Memorial Weekend Camping - part two

Here are some more pictures from Memorial weekend... thanks Tay!

cleanup!

our campsite

yummy blueberry pancakes!

Good Morning

everyone around the fire

Memorial Weekend Camping

So, after camping next to 30 freshman from Stanford in Yosemite the weekend before Memorial Weekend... Joel and I decided that we should do a little dutch oven cooking and camping in our backyard. It is a lot more spacious than those campsites!

here you can see the house in the background...

In this photo, you would never really know that we were in our backyard!

eating a popsicle around the campfire!

The smoke did not help this photo out at all,

but you can see some of the people...

Thanks for joining us. We had a great time!

Yosemite Spring 2010

Joel and I were able to go to Yosemite in May with a group of friends (thanks for the invite Katie and Lee!) Although it was a little on the cool side, the incredible waterfalls made it worth it. I will have to get a group shot from Katie and Lee to post. It was a great trip, with amazing views, food and company.

Glen, Joel and Erika getting up close and wet at the bottom of Yosemite Falls

Half dome in the background

Joel trying posing in his arborwear pants to try and get a free hat. If you send in a pic of you doing something cool in your arborwear pants, arborwear will send you a free hat.

My first time seeing a bear in Yosemite, I got a lot of butt shots

there was a lot of mist in the air from the waterfall

another pose at an attempt to get a free hat

and yet another pose... Joel does this kind of stuff all the time, even if a free hat is not involved!

today you are you, that is truer than true. there is no one alive who is youer than you.

I came across an email the other day that had some of my favorite quotes and I decided to share.

"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You."

Dr. Seuss

I remind myself that even when I am trying to become better and improve, I don't have to change who I am completely!

"The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide." - Longfellow

I have often thought of this as I have been at a low point in my life and know that something will come along to lift me up again.

Probably one of the biggest adjustments to married life, is friendships. How do Joel and I make new friends as a married couple and also interact with the friends that we had before we started dating? There have been a few times when I have had my feelings hurt and needed to step back and think about why I have felt the way that I do... Because I only have control over how I feel and treat others, I have been wondering what I can do to be a better friend.

I think that two quotes by Marvin J. Ashton speak volumes about how we should treat one another.

"Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other"

— Marvin J. Ashton

"If we could look into each other’s hearts and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care."
— Marvin J. Ashton

I am so very grateful for the love and support that I have from our families and also incredible friends who have been there for me and now us!

And finally, a favorite quote that I came across since we have been married... (Joel spends most of his time talking, thinking and probably dreaming about gardens, trees and all other plants.)

“Kind hearts are the gardens, Kind thoughts are the roots, Kind words are the flowers, Kind deeds are the fruits, Take care of your garden And keep out the weeds, Fill it with sunshine Kind words and kind deeds” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

We are trying to fill our home with kind hearts, kind thoughts, kind words and kind deeds.

My mom was able to come visit the end of last month. (I have been busy with wedding invitations and finals, so I haven't been able to post any pics from her visit.) The one thing that we really wanted to do while she was in town was to go see Wicked. She and Joel have never seen it and I REALLY wanted to see it again... It was so fun to have Holly join us for such an exciting performance. Everyone LOVED the show. I will be posting some pics of the skirts and dress that we made while she was here. Thanks mom!!!

This was the first shot that Joel took. He didn't realize that he was suppose to get the Wicked billboard in the background.

Holly took this photo!

Wicked photo, take two

Organizing - office/craft/sewing room

This is the room where I spend most of my time. It doesn't look this clean most of the time because I usually have one or more projects going on in here.

I bought a clear shoe hanger and put fabric behind it. This is a great storage area for all of those little things I have in the office/craft/sewing room.

This is the before and after of the old cork board that I had sitting around. Just a little paint and the same fabric I used for the organizer and it looks like new.

Temporary housing

One of the greatest blessings in our lives this year is to have a beautiful place to live. This is a photo of the front of the house. We are still trying to decide what tree to plant up close to the house to cover the bare white spot, which looks like an empty canvas to me.

The tree up close is one that we planted over Thanksgiving. It is a beech tree and the leaves just came out. It has already grown quite a bit since it was planted. The giant tree on the right over the house is an avocado tree and we enjoyed some amazing avocados just a few months after we moved in.

Temporary housing - Kitchen

One of the things that Joel and I love to do together is to cook. And who doesn't love cooking in a beautiful spacious kitchen with a dishwasher?! Love the big window to look outside too.

This breakfast nook is one of our favorite rooms in the whole house. We spend a lot of time here. Notice the very impractical gift that my sister gave us (popcorn maker in the corner.) Good thing that we have a big house to live in. We do love it and have used it more than we thought we would. You can see our garden through the window. More pics to come of that.

Temporary housing - master bath

Not too much to say about this, other than we love it. I love all of the tile and that it is just clean and simple. I still need to make a curtain for the window.

I have to admit that I will buy products for the shower based on

a) if I like the product

b) the color of the packaging, because that would just be terrible if it the color clashed with the rest of the bathroom.

temporary housing - bedroom

This is the master bedroom. I made the lamps and will have to post the before and after photos another time. The next project on our to do list is to make a headboard. Maybe I will do this while my mom is here next week.

This is a bookshelf that my dad built me. He and my mom gave it to me for Valentine's Day. It was a pretty awesome VDay gift. (Again, notice the wood grain.) The wooden bowl on top is a bowl that Joel made for me for Valentine's Day. Once again, a pretty awesome VDay gift. Rubber plant... my friend Mimi told me that it is impossible to kill... trying to keep it alive. I am usually pretty good with plants, but who knows what is going on with this thing. I need to have Joel look into it, although his specialty is trees and he is pretty preoccupied with his small tree nursery.

My first oil painting ever. This piece is part of a set that

Joel got at a garage sale. It was an amazing deal.

It was bright the day I took this, but it is a great chair and ottoman that we found for FREE on craigslist! I had been looking for a chair ever since we moved in here and they are so expensive. When I get the time, I am hoping to recover the chair. It is pretty low on the to do list.

This is one part of the walk-in closet that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! The built in shoe rack. I will admit that it does make me want to buy more shoes and get rid of the ones that I have had for awhile. I am trying to refrain!

(Sorry, this photo is a little blurry.) The boat is a sample that I designed during my days at PBKids. The orchid is a housewarming gift from my friend Joy... it had so many flowers on it. Now, I am just trying to keep it alive. Maybe one day when we have a bigger tv, we can put it on this piece, but for now, just another place for us to keep my many books and dvd collection.

This is an armoire that my dad built for me a few years ago. There was a little battle over the finish... (my dad has a deep love for wood grain and I like darker finish on furniture.) After this piece was done, my dad informed me that he would not build me anything else. I think this may be a good thing, at least for my parents marriage ;)

I do love how it turned out! And you can still see the wood grain. Thanks Dad!

My attempt of getting some height on the wall without hanging anything on it. Old suitcases from a garage sale. I think that I need to put something on top of them to give them some more height... any suggestions? BTW, old suitcases are fun to decorate with and I keep frames in then that I am currently not using. I have also thought of putting games in them.

temporary housing - living room

This photo is not of our house... but, I do love the headboard made out of vintage ceiling tiles! See photos below to see what we did with ours. Too bad we only have two.

Over the mantle, are our tiles patterned after vintage ceiling tiles from a Pottery Barn sample sale $5/each. I know when I brought them home, Joel was wondering what I was going to do with them! It works out well because we are trying not to hang anything on the walls.

View from the other side of the room.

The rug and the piano come with the house.

Palace of Fine Arts - Family Visit Cont.

Just before going into the exploratorium, we caught a window of blue skies and decided to explore the view and architecture outside.

a little climbing was involved